MUCH has been said about the state of unpreparedness of Metro Manila with the drenching it got, courtesy of typhoon Ondoy.

Despite the best efforts of government afterwards, nobody expected typhoon Pepeng’s extended stay and the destruction it wrought on the rest of northern Luzon.

We Cebuanos have a lot to give thanks for having been spared the series of typhoons that hit the north. But what if the next deluge hits us? Is Cebu prepared for this possibility?

Sun.Star accepts donations for victims of Typhoon Ondoy

We all know that we are not. But I ask this in light of the controversy in Cebu City’s mountain barangays, involving the reforestation concession protected by men of retired general Tiboy Fusillero.

Instead of helping him reforest our mountains, city officials are bent on helping their political supporters in the upland areas own parcels of the land. It seems we are only paying lip service to reforestation while practically allowing the conversion of our mountains into residential and commercial areas.

I’m afraid we are setting Cebu up for future disaster. Our drainage system could not absorb even 30 minutes of heavy rain.

With the way we are developing the mountains in Metro Cebu, let us not blame climate change if ever something tragic happens here.

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Esteban del Mar sent an e-mail complaining about a Sun.Star Cebu story on the DENR test result of two samples of coal ash taken from Naga City. The story concluded that the samples confirmed the presence of hazardous substances like cadmium, lead, and mercury. However, the reporter failed to point out that the concentration of these three substances are well below government standards.

Del Mar, who is into safe water advocacy, said traces of metals and chemicals become hazardous when the concentration reaches certain levels. He cited as an example the chlorine used in purifying drinking water. Larger concentration of chlorine in water is toxic.

Mercury, he said, is found in dental amalgam. Paint has also lead content. He also cited the US Environmental Protection Agency Biosolids Rule that pegged the ceiling for the amount of cadmium that can be applied to land as 85 mg/kg fill material.

I had been attending environmental journalism seminars years ago and we were always told against carelessness in handling technical and scientific data. While believing in the advocacy, we should be careful in making the public understand the complex scientific, technical, and social issues surrounding environmental controversies.

Contrary to the claims of environmental lawyers, del Mar said the supposed danger posed by coal ash is not a settled scientific issue. Del Mar, who heads an NGO called Technology Resource and Information Network (Train) said other countries, especially the US, have found beneficial uses of coal ash like its use in landfills and in making cement.

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If we believe the claims of Cebu’s self-styled environment protectors, we would now accept as true that the people of Naga have long rejected the coal-fired plants being constructed.

However, something is happening in Naga City that debunks this perception. Late last week, streamers in sack cloths criticizing the environmentalists have begun sprouting all over the city highway. The streamers are saying that the environmentalists are “anti-Naga.”

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Allegations of Kuratong men moonlighting at the local customs bureau could not prosper because they came from a hao-shiao report of a weekly tabloid circulated only at customs offices nationwide. Even the name of the person referred to as Kuratong could not have been one. He is not from Ozamis City in the first place. He is a town mayor in a neighboring province.

Nonetheless, the allegations stemmed from objections to the proliferation of several enforcement offices at the bureau. But that is the prerogative of national bureau officials.